On a Walk

[Abiciriderback]

Shot around Spencer Island about 30 miles north of Seattle, WA. Any feedback on how to improve on this shot, or what I should have done differently would be greatly appreciated.

I really appreciate the feedback I have received on my other pictures.

Ray Still

[GB1]

Ray,

Pretty colors here. I think the pink on green works very well. It looks like a fairy tale in that respect. All that is missing is the big bad crocodile that tries to spoil the party

I am a bit surprised that no one commented on this. It has good elements, just needs some easy to fix next time things.

If I were to say what you could do to make this a better photo, I would say that you might want to think what the center area of the shot is. Though sometimes you don't need a strong subject, a viewer usually needs an area to 'rest' their eyes on. (Where is that duck when you need it?) I like the diagonal log there. But the far right log is a distraction as it introduces an out of place horizontal in the photo. The other log is OK but not as easy on the eyes.

I like how you blurred the background, but I feel that you blurring the foreground flowers is a big mistake. Blur often works on pure flower shots, but in general landscapes require good depth of field where everything is in focus. Read up on hyper focal distance, it will tell you how to set your aperture to just the right setting to get everything in focus. Or use your depth of field preview button if your camera has one (if it doesn't... you can guessimate). In this situation I would had let the background blur as you did, but had all the foreground in focus.

If I were to adjust what you have here, I would crop out the right 2/5 of so of the image. that would elim the right side log area. I would crop just to the right of middle pink flowers.. they should be left in so that the right side isn't devoid of color.

GB

[MB1]

Yes, the depth of field is an issue here-the out of focus flowers in the foreground are a problem.

For shots like this I try to get something in the foreground (get much closer to those flowers) or place some foliage on the close edges of the image to act as a framing device. Plus I like to shoot in warmer light; closer to sunrise or sunset.

As it is this is more of a picture of a nice place than a nice picture.